U.S. patent number 7,340,685 [Application Number 10/755,834] was granted by the patent office on 2008-03-04 for automatic reference note generator.
This patent grant is currently assigned to International Business Machines Corporation. Invention is credited to Yen-Fu Chen, John W. Dunsmoir.
United States Patent |
7,340,685 |
Chen , et al. |
March 4, 2008 |
Automatic reference note generator
Abstract
Content is transferred from one computer resource to another
computer resource by receiving a first insertion point or
replacement area from a first user interface to a destination
computer resource, receiving an enablement to perform automatic
paste operation, switching to a user interface to a source computer
resource, receiving a user selection of content from said source
user interface, and automatically copying the selected content to a
transfer buffer and to the designated insertion point(s) in the
destination computer resource. Each time source content is
selected, a number of source reference data items such as author,
publication date, and source file name or network address are
captured and stored. The stored source reference identifies may
then be used to automatically generate footnotes, end notes, and
bibliographical entries.
Inventors: |
Chen; Yen-Fu (Austin, TX),
Dunsmoir; John W. (Round Rock, TX) |
Assignee: |
International Business Machines
Corporation (Armonk, NY)
|
Family
ID: |
34739677 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/755,834 |
Filed: |
January 12, 2004 |
Prior Publication Data
|
|
|
|
Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
|
US 20050154993 A1 |
Jul 14, 2005 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/770;
715/769 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
9/543 (20130101); G06F 3/0486 (20130101); G06F
3/1454 (20130101); G06F 40/166 (20200101); G06F
40/103 (20200101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
3/048 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;715/770,769,512 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
"OLE Concepts and Requirements Overview" by Microsoft Corp.,
downloaded on Nov. 6, 2003 from http://support.microsoft.com. cited
by other .
"Citation Style for Research Papers" by Long Island University,
downloaded on Nov. 6, 2003 from
http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop. cited by other .
"Turabian Citation Style" by Long Island University, downloaded on
Nov. 6, 2003 from http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop.
cited by other .
"MLA Citation Style" by Long Island University, downloaded on Nov.
6, 2003 from http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop. cited by
other .
"Chicago Citation Style" by Long Island University, downloaded on
Nov. 6, 2003 from http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop.
cited by other .
"AMA Citation Style" by Long Island University, downloaded on Nov.
6, 2003 from http://www.liu/edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop. cited by
other .
"APA Citation Style" by Long Island University, downloaded on Nov.
6, 2003 from http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop. cited by
other.
|
Primary Examiner: Luu; Sy D.
Assistant Examiner: Kumar; Anil N
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Frantz; Robert H. Mims, Jr.; David
A.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for generating a reference note in an electronic
document when directly quoting information from another electronic
document, comprising the steps of: receiving a first user-selected
insertion point or replacement area from a first user interface to
a destination electronic document; subsequent to receiving said
first insertion point, providing a source user interface to a
user-selected source electronic document; subsequent to providing
said source user interface, receiving a user selection of text
content to be transferred from said source user interface to said
first insertion point or replacement area; subsequent to receiving
said user selection of content, automatically copying said selected
content to a transfer buffer without requiring said user to return
to said first user interface; automatically capturing and recording
one or more source reference data items corresponding to said
selected content simultaneously with or subsequent to said
automatic copying; and automatically generating in said destination
electronic document at least one reference note selected from the
group of a footnote, an endnote, a table of references entry, and a
bibliographical entry containing said recorded source reference
data items.
2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of
recording one or more source reference data items comprises
capturing a source identifier selected from the group of a file
name, a path name, a folder name, a server name, a Uniform Resource
Locator, and a network address.
3. The method sa set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of
recording one or more source reference data items comprises
capturing a system time, a system date, or both a system time and
date.
4. The method sa set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of
recording one or more source reference data items comprises
capturing an author identifier for said source information.
5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of
recording one or more source reference data items comprises
capturing a user identifier.
6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of
recording one or more source reference data items comprises
capturing a publication date for said source information.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS (CLAIMING BENEFIT UNDER 35
U.S.C. 120)
This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.
10/455,159, filed on Jun. 5, 2003, by Yen-Fu Chen.
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT STATEMENT
This invention was not developed in conjunction with any Federally
sponsored contract.
MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not applicable.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
Related U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/455,159, filed on Jun.
5, 2003, by Yen-Fu Chen, is incorporated by reference in its
entirety, including figures, to the present disclosure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the arts of computer user interfaces and
data exchange between program entities such as instances of
programs in a multi-tasking computer system. This invention relates
especially to computer methods for transferring information from
one file to another.
2. Background of the Invention
Modem multi-tasking computers provide a variety of user interfaces
for controlling multiple application programs and system functions
which operate simultaneously. Some of the most widely used
multi-tasking computer systems are personal computers ("PC")
running a multi-tasking operating system ("OS") such as
International Business Machines' ("IBM") OS/2 .TM. or AIX .TM.,
Microsoft Windows .TM., and Apple Computer's MacOS .TM.. Other
operating systems may be used with personal computers as well as
larger computers such as enterprise-class computers, such as UNIX,
Sun Microsystems' Solaris .TM., Hewlett Packard's HP-UX .TM., and
the "open sourced" LINUX. Smaller computing platforms such as
held-held computers, personal digital assistants ("PDA"), and
advanced wireless telephones may run operating systems targeted for
such hardware including Palm Computing's PalmOS .TM. and
Microsoft's Windows CE .TM.. Additionally, there are many
"proprietary" and less widely-used computing platforms and
operating systems which also allow users to control and run
multiple programs and system functions simultaneously.
Many of these systems will use tabs, icons, windows, frames, pages
and special key combinations to allow a user to switch between user
interfaces ("UI") for each program and system function which is
being executed, or to start or stop the execution of a program or
system function. For example, in a personal computer running MS
Windows .TM., the user may first start a web browser program
running using several methods (e.g. double clicking an icon on the
desktop, selecting the program from a Start Programs list,
operating a "hot key", etc.), and then may start a document editor
program using similar methods. Each program establishes a user
interface such as its own "window". The user can then control a
program by selecting its window using one of several available
methods, such as selecting a button or icon on a command bar,
activating a "task list" and selecting a program, etc. As a result,
a user can start and run many programs simultaneously, periodically
switching between their user interfaces to accomplish work or
entertainment tasks as needed. Other computing systems provide
similar basic user control capabilities, albeit with a variety of
user controls to switch between programs and system functions.
Users often wish to copy or transfer information or "content" from
one program or system function to another. For example, a user may
be preparing an invoice for a client using a word processor
program, but may also be simultaneously using a database or
spreadsheet program to perform various calculations. Using "copy
and paste" functions of the application programs and the operating
system, the user may select information from a source program (e.g.
the spreadsheet), and "paste" it into the destination program (e.g.
the invoice being edited). Such a process is so common place in
computer users' daily lives that it is rote, albeit each user may
know several sequences of actions for several computers which he or
she commonly uses (e.g. one process on his home PC, another on his
PDA, and another on his networked terminal at work). These
memorized methods may typically include several steps of clicking
on icons, dropping down lists, highlighting information, and using
navigation controls within program UI's.
For example, turning to FIG. 1, a "windows" style user interface is
depicted to illustrate a process of "copying" information from a
web browser program to a word processor file via a "clipboard"
memory. In this system, each program provides a window (2, 3, 104)
which can be closed (9, 9') to end the program, maximized (8, 8')
to view the full UI for that program, or minimized (7, 7') to leave
the program running but deactive the UI (e.g. clear the UI window
from the screen). In this example, these controls are located in a
command bar (4, 4') along the top of the UI window, but many other
variations are known in the art.
Each UI window also typically has navigation controls such as left
panning (15, 15'), right panning (13, 13'), and horizontal scroll
(14, 14') controls, as well as up panning (10, 10'), down panning
(12, 12'), and vertical scroll (11, 11'), for viewing areas of
information and content not completely viewable in the UI.
Information, icons, text, graphics, etc., are shown or displayed
within (16, 18) the UI window according to the scroll and panning
control settings. More recently, the term "content" (16, 18) has
been used to collectively refer to all types of information which
may be displayed or presented in a user interface, including but
not limited to text, graphics, still images, animated images,
video, audio, and hyperlinks.
Now suppose for the purpose of our example, the user has started a
word processing program which provides a first UI window (2), and a
web browser which provides a second UI window (3). Also suppose
that the user is researching information on the Internet using the
web browser while authoring a paper which is being edited
simultaneously using the word processor.
In this example, the user has found information (19) at a
hypothetical web address (17) that he wants to "quote" in his or
her paper. So, the user must first move the cursor (104) in the
word processor to select an insertion point for the information,
then must switch to the web browser UI, select the text (19) in the
source content, operate a "copy" command in the web browser UI
which copies (101) the content into a buffer (100) such as a
"clipboard", switch back to the word processor UI, and operate a
"paste" or "insert" command, which results in the copied content
(19) being inserted into the destination document at the point of
insertion (103). The user can repeat this process for many
different program UI's (106).
In some software and hardware configurations, the copy buffer may
be provided within a suite of application programs which are
"tightly coupled" or related. Such suites cooperate with each other
in ways not possible with software programs provided by differing
suppliers. In many cases, however, the operating system provides a
buffer function which is generally accessible by all programs, such
as the clipboard in the MS Windows .TM. operating system.
Also, in some situations, the original content with its original
format may not be acceptable by the destination program, and as
such, a specialized paste or insertion function (105) may be
provided by the destination program or operating system which
converts the content to a form useful by the destination program.
For example, text copied from a web page may include color, size,
font, style, and hyperlink reference information embedded in the
base Hyper Text Markup Language ("HTML") of the source web page.
However, not all word processors are able to interpret all of these
special codes and identifiers, so a "paste as plain text" option
may be provided by a converter or translator (105) function.
So, to illustrate the complexity and tedious nature of such
ordinary operations, we present the steps in full to accomplish
this example scenario of simply transferring a block of formatted
text from a web page to a word processor program, starting from a
point where the user is editing the destination document in the
word processor: (a) navigate to the insertion point in the
destination document using the word processor UI window controls
(e.g. multiple clicks on scroll, panning or page up/page down
keys); (b) optionally select text or content in the destination
document which is to be replaced; (c) switch to the web browser UI
window (e.g. click on an icon in a task bar, activate a task list
and pick a running web browser program, etc.); (d) navigate in the
web browser UI window to find the text or content desired to be
transferred into the document (e.g. use panning, scrolling, or page
up/page down keys); (e) select the source content or text (e.g.
click-and-drag over the content to highlight it); (f) transfer the
content to a copy buffer (e.g. click on "Edit" command, select
"copy" option or type Alt-E, Alt-C); (g) switch back to the word
processor UI window (e.g. (e.g. click on a icon in a task bar,
activate a task list and pick a running web browser program, etc.);
and (h) operate a "paste" command in the word processor UI window
(e.g. click on "Edit" command, select "paste" option or type Alt-E,
Alt-P).
Each of these operations may actually require several steps
(clicking, scrolling, selecting, typing, etc.), so this minimal
process may represent 7 to 25 actual user actions. This process
must be repeated for each block of text or content to be
transferred from multiple program UI windows (106), and additional
steps may be necessary to achieve a "special paste", as described
above. Also, if the same text or content is to be inserted into the
destination document for file at multiple locations, the last few
operations of this process (h) in addition to some navigation
actions must by performed by the user.
As a result, consolidating information from multiple sources of
information may be extremely tedious, frustrating, and tiresome
using the currently available methods and apparatuses provided in
such computing systems. Some systems may provide notably more "user
friendly" or intuitive methods, while other systems are much more
difficult and "clunky" to use.
Turning to FIG. 2, this process is generalized. Starting at a point
or time (21) when the user is actively working with the destination
program UI, the user must navigate (22) within the present
document, file, or other computer resource to a point where the
content insertion is to be made, including selecting any content
which is to be replaced. Then, the user must switch (23) to the UI
of the first source of information, navigate (24) to the first
source content to be transferred, select that content, and operate
(25) a copy or cut control in the first source UI.
Next, the user must switch (26) back to the destination UI, and
operate (27) an insert or paste command in that UI. If (28) the
user wants to insert or paste that content into multiple
destinations, the user must navigate (29) to each destination and
operate (27) the paste or insert command in the destination program
UI, until all insertions have been made for that source
information.
If (200) the user desires to transfer information from other points
in the same source, or from other sources, the user must repeatedly
switch (201) to a source UI, navigate to a source content point,
select source information, operate (25) a copy or cut operation,
switch (26) back to the destination UI, and paste or insert (27)
the content, until all information has been transferred.
Implied, but not shown in detail, in this generalization of the
process can be multiple user actions for each general step.
Optionally, options such as translation or conversion of the
content may be necessary, which requires additional user actions
(e.g. the "paste as plain text" example).
So, it is not inconceivable that in the course of authoring a paper
using a word processor and information from several sources, the
user may have to perform hundreds of tedious actions, commands,
selections, navigation operations, etc.
In this paradigm, certain conventions have evolved into place which
only moderately simplify or reduce the burden of such operations.
For example, performing a "cut" operation usually deletes the
selected source content from the source file, and places a copy of
it into the transfer buffer, sometimes overwriting the current
contents of the transfer buffer. A "copy" operation typically
leaves the selected information unchanged in the source and only
places a copy of the information in the transfer buffer.
Additionally, in the destination UI, a "paste" or "insert" command
may copy the contents of transfer buffer to a selected point in the
destination document or file, leaving a copy in the transfer buffer
for additional pastes or insertions.
In some programs, a "paste special", "import from clipboard", or
similar command may be available with several translation options
to perform a minimal conversion process on each transfer. However,
even though the user may be performing the same "paste special"
command over and over, the typical UI does not memorize or "learn"
this process, so the user is forced to respond to a number of
redundant options and dialogs on each paste operation.
The same user interface conventions are followed by many computer
systems not only for content or information within a computer
resource such as text and graphics within a file, but also for
resources (e.g. files, shortcuts, icons, mappings, etc.) within a
computing environment (e.g. file system, directories, folders,
etc.). For example, when working with a MS Windows .TM. operating
system and running the Windows Explorer program, a user may select
a file, directory or folder to move, execute an "Edit--Cut" command
sequence, navigate to another directory or drive, and execute an
"Edit--Paste" command to move the selected resource to the new
destination. Similarly, by selecting the source resource, executing
a copy command, and then executing a paste command to one or more
destinations, the original resource is not changed but copies of it
are deposited at the destination points. Further, by selecting and
copying a source resource, then selecting a destination resource,
replacement of the destination resource may be accomplished.
As such, editing tools which are available can be used to readily
copy information from one computer source to another, which enables
a user to quickly and easy compile an original document, paper, or
article which contains verbatim quotes from a plurality of sources
such as web sites, word processor files, etc.
When incorporating such information from sources other than the
author himself or herself, it is customary to note the source of
the quoted information an a manner such as a footnote, and end
note, or an entry in a bibliography or table of references.
Many word processors have facilities for allowing a user to mark
text in a document, enter information regarding the source of the
information, and automatically generating an end note, footnote, or
table entry based on the information provided by the user. While
this automatic reference note generation function greatly
simplifies the task of creating the notes and placing them in the
proper places in the document (e.g. at the foot of a page where the
passage is reprinted), it has two problems. First, it requires the
user to take careful notes as to the source of the quoted
information, such as a file or web site address. Second, it relies
upon the integrity of the author to properly identify the source of
the information.
Because cutting and pasting between one online source of
information to another is so easy to do with word processors, web
browsers, etc., it poses a special problem for online learning
systems, as well. For example, consider a situation where a student
is taking a test online through a distance learning arrangement,
and that one portion of the test requires the student to author a
short essay. In one manner of administrating the test, the student
may be provided an HTML web form in which there is a box to type
his or her essay composition, with the form being transmitted by
HTTP to an instructor for grading. In another manner of
administering the test, the student may be allowed to use a word
processor to author a short paper for the essay, and to email the
paper to the instructor for grading.
In both of these test administration scenarios, and in many
variants of them, it is difficult for the instructor to know or
determine if the student has improperly plagiarized information
contained in his or her answer by cutting and pasting from other
computer sources (e.g. cutting and pasting information from an
online encyclopedia or web site into the form field or the word
processor document).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Users are enabled to cut and paste information from a plurality of
sources to one or more destinations in a more convenient manner, as
previously described in the related patent application, while
simultaneously automatically collecting the source reference
information (e.g. author, time, date, file name, document name, web
site address, etc.) for each information item transferred into the
destination(s). The present invention can then supply this
collected source reference information to word processor functions
which automatically generate end notes, foot notes, table of
reference entries, and bibliography entries, thereby allowing the
user to more easily and accurately produce such reference notes.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the
composition which has been created by inclusion of one or more
tracked sources of information may be automatically updated or
"refreshed" by the invention through accessing the original points
of source information elements and transferring them into the
composition as previously performed, except with current or fresh
information from the sources.
Additionally, in another manner of use and operation, an
administrator of an online learning experience such as a test or
assignment is provided with an automatically generated report of
quoted source reference information from a student who has cited or
quoted information from an online source through cut-and-paste or
copy operations. The student may or may not be aware of the
monitoring and reporting of his or her information transfer
activities, according to options of the invention. Similarly to the
collection of footnote and end note information which is performed
during the cutting and pasting operations, the same source
reference information is collected during completion of an online
learning activity and used to generate a report which is then
provided to the administrator of the online learning activity. This
information can allow the administrator to determine if the student
has violated a rule of conduct through disallowed plagiarism, or
has not fully disclosed the sources of his or her information in
situations where quoting of other parties is allowed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The following detailed description when taken in conjunction with
the figures presented herein provide a complete disclosure of the
invention.
FIG. 1 illustrates the typical user interfaces and system actions
of "cutting and pasting" information from one application program
to another.
FIG. 2 shows the typical logical process in a general manner for
transferring content from one application program or system
function to another.
FIG. 3 depicts a generalized computing platform architecture, such
as a personal computer, server computer, personal digital
assistant, web-enabled wireless telephone, or other processor-based
device.
FIG. 4 shows a generalized organization of software and firmware
associated with the generalized architecture of FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 illustrates our process of collecting source reference
information during copying, cutting and pasting, and similar
information transfer operations, which is then used to
automatically generate accurate and complete reference notes.
FIG. 6 illustrates our process of automatically refreshing or
updating quoted information from their original sources or
references.
FIG. 7 depicts our process of collecting source reference
information during copying, cutting and pasting, and similar
information transfer operations, which is then used to
automatically generate a monitor report for use in online learning
experiences.
FIG. 8 provides a logical process illustrating the automatic
reference noting operations as shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 9 provides a logical process illustrating the online learning
monitor operations as shown in FIG. 5.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is preferrably realized as
computer-executable code such as compiled software, scripts, or
portable programs, in conjunction with existing application
programs, operating systems, and computer hardware. For purposes of
completeness, we first present a generalized view in FIGS. 3 and 4
of typical computer hardware and software which is suitable for
realization of our invention. Many variations of these computer
platform details may be made without departing from the scope of
the invention, as will be readily recognized by those skilled in
the art.
Common computing platforms such as personal computers, web servers,
and web browsers, as well as proprietary computing platforms, may
be used in realization of the present invention. These common
computing platforms can include, but are not limited to, personal
computers as well as portable computing platforms, such as personal
digital assistants ("PDA"), web-enabled wireless telephones, and
other types of personal information management ("PIM") devices.
Therefore, it is useful to review a generalized architecture of a
computing platform which may span the range of implementation, from
a high-end web or enterprise server platform, to a personal
computer, to a portable PDA or web-enabled wireless phone.
Turning to FIG. 3, a generalized architecture is presented
including a central processing unit (31) ("CPU"), which is
typically comprised of a microprocessor (32) associated with random
access memory ("RAM") (34) and read-only memory ("ROM") (35).
Often, the CPU (31) is also provided with cache memory (33) and
programmable FlashROM (36). The interface (37) between the
microprocessor (32) and the various types of CPU memory is often
referred to as a "local bus", but also may be a more generic or
industry standard bus.
Many computing platforms are also provided with one or more storage
drives (39), such as a hard-disk drives ("HDD"), floppy disk
drives, compact disc drives (CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R, etc.),
and proprietary disk and tape drives (e.g., lomega Zip .TM. and Jaz
.TM., Addonics SuperDisk .TM., etc.). Additionally, some storage
drives may be accessible over a computer network.
Many computing platforms are provided with one or more
communication interfaces (310), according to the function intended
of the computing platform. For example, a personal computer is
often provided with a high speed serial port (RS-232, RS-422,
etc.), an enhanced parallel port ("EPP"), and one or more universal
serial bus ("USB") ports. The computing platform may also be
provided with a local area network ("LAN") interface, such as an
Ethernet card, and other high-speed interfaces such as the High
Performance Serial Bus IEEE-1394.
Computing platforms such as wireless telephones and wireless
networked PDA's may also be provided with a radio frequency ("RF")
interface with antenna, as well. In some cases, the computing
platform may be provided with an infrared data arrangement (IrDA)
interface, too.
Computing platforms are often equipped with one or more internal
expansion slots (311), such as Industry Standard Architecture
("ISA"), Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture ("EISA"),
Peripheral Component Interconnect ("PCI"), or proprietary interface
slots for the addition of other hardware, such as sound cards,
memory boards, and graphics accelerators.
Additionally, many units, such as laptop computers and PDA's, are
provided with one or more external expansion slots (312) allowing
the user the ability to easily install and remove hardware
expansion devices, such as PCMCIA cards, SmartMedia cards, and
various proprietary modules such as removable hard drives, CD
drives, and floppy drives.
Often, the storage drives (39), communication interfaces (310),
internal expansion slots (311) and external expansion slots (312)
are interconnected with the CPU (31) via a standard or industry
open bus architecture (38), such as ISA, EISA, or PCI. In many
cases, the bus (38) may be of a proprietary design.
A computing platform is usually provided with one or more user
input devices, such as a keyboard or a keypad (316), and mouse or
pointer device (317), and/or a touch-screen display (318). In the
case of a personal computer, a full size keyboard is often provided
along with a mouse or pointer device, such as a track ball or
TrackPoint .TM.. In the case of a web-enabled wireless telephone, a
simple keypad may be provided with one or more function-specific
keys. In the case of a PDA, a touch-screen (318) is usually
provided, often with handwriting recognition capabilities.
Additionally, a microphone (319), such as the microphone of a
web-enabled wireless telephone or the microphone of a personal
computer, is supplied with the computing platform. This microphone
may be used for simply reporting audio and voice signals, and it
may also be used for entering user choices, such as voice
navigation of web sites or auto-dialing telephone numbers, using
voice recognition capabilities.
Many computing platforms are also equipped with a camera device
(3100), such as a still digital camera or full motion video digital
camera.
One or more user output devices, such as a display (313), are also
provided with most computing platforms. The display (313) may take
many forms, including a Cathode Ray Tube ("CRT"), a Thin Flat
Transistor ("TFT") array, or a simple set of light emitting diodes
("LED") or liquid crystal display ("LCD") indicators.
One or more speakers (314) and/or annunciators (315) are often
associated with computing platforms, too. The speakers (314) may be
used to reproduce audio and music, such as the speaker of a
wireless telephone or the speakers of a personal computer.
Annunciators (315) may take the form of simple beep emitters or
buzzers, commonly found on certain devices such as PDAs and
PIMs.
These user input and output devices may be directly interconnected
(38', 38'') to the CPU (31) via a proprietary bus structure and/or
interfaces, or they may be interconnected through one or more
industry open buses such as ISA, EISA, PCI, etc.
The computing platform is also provided with one or more software
and firmware (3101) programs to implement the desired functionality
of the computing platforms.
Turning to now FIG. 4, more detail is given of a generalized
organization of software and firmware (3101) on this range of
computing platforms. One or more operating system ("OS") native
application programs (43) may be provided on the computing
platform, such as word processors, spreadsheets, contact management
utilities, address book, calendar, email client, presentation,
financial and bookkeeping programs.
Additionally, one or more "portable" or device-independent programs
(44) may be provided, which must be interpreted by an OS-native
platform-specific interpreter (45), such as Java .TM. scripts and
programs.
Often, computing platforms are also provided with a form of web
browser or microbrowser (46), which may also include one or more
extensions to the browser such as browser plug-ins (47).
The computing device is often provided with an operating system
(40), such as Microsoft Windows .TM., UNIX, IBM OS/2 .TM., LINUX,
MAC OS .TM. or other platform specific operating systems. Smaller
devices such as PDA's and wireless telephones may be equipped with
other forms of operating systems such as real-time operating
systems ("RTOS") or Palm Computing's PalmOS .TM..
A set of basic input and output functions ("BIOS") and hardware
device drivers (41) are often provided to allow the operating
system (40) and programs to interface to and control the specific
hardware functions provided with the computing platform.
Additionally, one or more embedded firmware programs (42) are
commonly provided with many computing platforms, which are executed
by onboard or "embedded" microprocessors as part of the peripheral
device, such as a micro controller or a hard drive, a communication
processor, network interface card, or sound or graphics card.
As such, FIGS. 3 and 4 describe in a general sense the various
hardware components, software and firmware programs of a wide
variety of computing platforms, including but not limited to
personal computers, PDAs, PIMs, web-enabled telephones, and other
appliances such as WebTV .TM. units. As such, we now turn our
attention to disclosure of the present invention relative to the
processes and methods preferably implemented as software and
firmware on such a computing platform. It will be readily
recognized by those skilled in the art that the following methods
and processes may be alternatively realized as hardware functions,
in part or in whole, without departing from the spirit and scope of
the invention.
We now turn our attention to description of the method of the
invention and it's associated components. In general, the present
invention provides the user the ability to follow this process: 1.
Declare destination content area for pasting or insertion in a
destination UI; 2. Enable highlighting or selecting content to
automatic copy selected information and store it in memory (e.g.
buffer/clipboard) for future usage, as well as to automatically
insert or paste the selected information into the pre-designated
destination area; 3. Switch to source UI's, and simply highlight or
select the desired content portion(s) which triggers dynamic
insertion/concatenation into the declared content field.
Using the present invention, advantages over presently available
methods and user interfaces are: 1. User-friendly: the invention
utilizes maneuvering techniques with which users are already
familiar, such as double mouse clicks, dragging to highlight, etc.;
2. Convenient: the invention provides a user a new way of selecting
destination for paste operations, and offers a quicker way of
copy/paste by eliminating keyboard strokes, mouse clicks,
navigation and toggling between different program windows and UI's.
3. Intuitive: Users can learn or "discover" that in this new mode,
content highlighting triggers copy/paste effortlessly, immediately
seeing the results of the highlighting action, and proceeding to
experiment with various ways of applying and exploring this
invention. 4. Time-Saving: Reduces time to compile information from
multiple sources by making copy-paste user interface methods much
more efficient. 5. Increases productivity: By reducing fatigue and
tediousness in application program user interfaces, users are
allowed to produce more accurate results with less effort in less
time.
Turning now to FIG. 5, our process (50) of collecting and recording
(51) information regarding the source for each information element
transferred from a source to the transfer buffer is shown. In this
example, the information element is a text string (19), which is
being transferred from a web browser window (3) pointed to an
address (17) www.123.com. The source reference recorder (51)
intercepts the transfer of the selected information elements on
their way from the source to the clipboard or transfer buffer, and
records the system date and time (57), user identification (58),
and a source indicator (56) such as a file name, path name, URL or
address. The user ID (58) can be obtained through a number of
conventional means, such as having the user log into the machine or
accessing a user profile through an operating system call. The
system date and time (57) can also be obtained through a number of
conventional means, including making an operating system function
call or maintaining an internal clock and date value. Information
can also be parsed from source code or obtained from session
objects, cookies, etc.
The source indicator (56) can also be obtained through several
conventional means, such as by implementing or querying an Object
Linking Environment ("OLE") link, examining HTML meta tags, XML
header information, PDF file header information, proprietary
document embedded authorship and file indicators (e.g. MS Word
author fields, creation dates, etc.). The source author (if
available) and publication date can be obtained through similar
means, as well.
Table 1 shows an example source reference record corresponding to
this example transfer, recorded in an eXtensible Markup Language
("XML") style format. Records can be made in a variety of alternate
formats, as well, such as text, binary, database entries, etc.
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Example XML Source Reference Record
<source_reference> <from> www.123.com </from>
<source_author> Jim Smith </source_author>
<source_pub_date> Dec. 19, 2001 </source_pub_date>
<source_content> Qwerty utrew zxf </source_content>
<date_of_copy> April 15, 2004 </date_of_copy>
<time_of_copy> 18:36:03 </time_of_copy> <user>
Danny </user> <destination> page 1, line 8,
"my_essay.doc" </destination> </source_reference>
These records of reference information are stored (54), preferably
in a simple database structure such as an IBM DB2 structure, and
are provided to a reference note generator (55), such as an
footnote, end note, table of reference, or bibliography tool
associated with a word processor. Alternatively, the reference note
generator (55) may be provided as a standalone utility program. The
information shown in Table 1 can be formatted in a variety of ways
according to the intended use, and according to a custom or
standard style manual such as Turabian's Manual for Writers or the
Chicago Manual of Style, or such as profession and
industry-specific style guides including the Publication Manual of
the American Psychological Association, the MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers, or the American Medical Association
Manual of Style.
For this example, a "Chicago" style foot note may be created to
read as follows: .sup.1Smith, Jim. 2001. Available from World Wide
Web: <http://www.123.com>
Turning to FIG. 8, our logical process for capturing and recording
source reference information is shown at a high level. This method
may be implemented as compiled code, scripts, or interpretable code
(e.g. Java, applets, servlets, etc.) in full or part within
application programs, operating systems, server suites, utility
programs, or proprietary code or hardware.
While creating or editing a computer resource such as a computer
file or document, when a user wishes to insert or copy content from
a source destination to the resource being edited, the system
executes the process (80) shown. The source or sources may include
points and areas within UI's of other programs and system
functions, as well as within the destination resource which is
being created or edited.
Initially, the user may navigate (81) to a first insertion point
and optionally highlight an insertion area to designate a first
"paste" destination while in the current (destination) UI. If (82)
more than one insertion points or areas are desired, the user may
navigate to and select (83) additional destinations while still in
the destination UI. Insertion points can be marked in a variety of
ways, including placement of a graphical icon such as a caret ("^")
at the insertion point(s) or other suitable icon. Replacement
destination areas can be marked in a variety of ways, including
highlighting the selected text, graphics, information, or content
in a special pattern, color, or both, or by making special changes
to the selected information itself (e.g. changing the text to a
different color, underlining the text, etc.). Preferably, a user
interface or dialog box is also provided to allow the user to
manage destination insertion points and replacement areas, such as
to create additional points and areas, and to remove points and
areas.
When all destination points and areas have been designated, the
user enables (84) the automatic content transfer function of the
invention through an appropriate user control such as
right-clicking with the mouse to bring up a dialog box, selecting
an option from a drop-down list, or operating a special icon, key
or key sequence. The user may be allowed to select advanced
options, such as rules for concatenation or content conversion, or
whether cutting (e.g. source deletion) is performed as well as
copying on each subsequent selection operation.
Next, the user switches (85) to the first UI from which source
information is to be transferred, navigates to the first source
point, and highlights or selects (86) source content, which is then
automatically copied into the transfer buffer and pasted (88) into
the designated destination point(s) and area(s), without need to
switch back to the destination UI. Additionally, the source
reference information (54) for this transfer is recorded, such as
the time and date of the transfer, the user's identification, the
author of the information, a source indicator such as a file name
or web address, the destination resource, and the publication date
of the source information.
If (87) more source content is to be transferred, the user may
continue to navigate to additional points and to select (86)
additional content for automatic pasting into the destination
resource from within the current UI, or the user may switch (800,
801) to another UI and proceed with selecting (86) for automatic
pasting (88) into the destination resource.
When (87) all source information has been copied, the collected
source reference information (54) is made available to a reference
note generator (802), and the information transfer operation is
complete (89). The user now returns to the initial (e.g.
destination) UI to continue editing or creating (21') the computer
resource.
Of course, as will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the
use of text as the content copied from a source to a destination in
the foregoing examples is not meant to imply that the present
invention is limited to such content types. In fact, it may be used
to transfer content of any format which is compatible with the
transfer buffer implementation. For example, video clips, graphics,
hyperlinks, audio clips, and the like may be handled by the
invention provided that the transfer buffer is implemented in a
manner compatible with storing such information.
Turning now to FIG. 6, an illustration of our process (60) to
automatically refresh or update a composition with the most recent
information from the sources of original information is shown. An
automatic refresher (61) accesses the source reference information
records (54), then retrieves the latest available information from
each of those sources (e.g. from each quoted web page, file, etc.),
and provides them into an updated copy of the destination via the
clipboard or transfer buffer. This can be accomplished through a
number of conventional means such as macro executions, dynamically
generated scripts, or embedding of OLE links into the source
reference information records.
As shown in FIG. 7, our process (70) for monitoring online learning
experiences is similar to the process of FIG. 6, with the exception
that the captured and recorded source reference information (54) is
rendered into a human-readable form such as an email report (72) by
a report generator (71). For the previous example of Table 1, the
report may look something like: Online Learning Monitor Ver. 1.0
Student: Danny Quoting and Copying Actions: copied "Qwerty utrew
zxf" from "www.123.com" on Apr. 15, 2003 at 18:36:03 into page 1,
line 8, "my_essay.doc" End of Report
This text report may be sent to an administrator using a method
such as email or facsimile, or may be stored for future retrieval
and review by the administrator such as in a text file or database.
The monitoring function may be executed in the "foreground" with
the possible knowledge of the student, or may be executed in the
background in a manner concealed from the student in order to
survey the student's activities unknowingly. Optionally, an online
learning administrator provided with a Graphical User Interface
("GUI") through which he or she may view multiple reports for a
single student, reports for a set of students, and enable sorting,
filtering and perform searching against institutional policies and
rules to find violators. For example, using such a GUI, an
administrator may specify to search and sort on all students in a
class who exceeded a maximum number of allowed links visited while
completing their essay composition. In another example, the
administrator may sort and filter all student reports to see which
students visited or used web sites and sources which were unrelated
to the course, or which were not approved for use.
Our logical process (90) of monitoring an online learning
experience is shown in more detail in FIG. 9. This method may be
implemented as compiled code, scripts, or interpretable code (e.g.
Java, applets, servlets, etc.) in full or part within application
programs, operating systems, server suites, utility programs, or
proprietary code or hardware.
While creating or editing information for an online learning
exercise such as completing an essay or writing a composition
document on a computer, when a user wishes to insert or copy
content from a source destination to the resource being edited, the
system executes our process (90). The source or sources may include
points and areas within UI's of other programs and system
functions, as well as within the destination resource which is
being created or edited.
Initially, the user may navigate (81) to a first insertion point
and optionally highlight an insertion area to designate a first
"paste" destination while in the current (destination) UI. If (82)
more than one insertion points or areas are desired, the user may
navigate to and select (83) additional destinations while still in
the destination UI. Insertion points can be marked in a variety of
ways, including placement of a graphical icon such as a caret ("^")
at the insertion point(s) or other suitable icon. Replacement
destination areas can be marked in a variety of ways, including
highlighting the selected text, graphics, information, or content
in a special pattern, color, or both, or by making special changes
to the selected information itself (e.g. changing the text to a
different color, underlining the text, etc.). Preferably, a user
interface or dialog box is also provided to allow the user to
manage destination insertion points and replacement areas, such as
to create additional points and areas, and to remove points and
areas.
When all destination points and areas have been designated, the
user enables (84) the automatic content transfer function of the
invention through an appropriate user control such as
right-clicking with the mouse to bring up a dialog box, selecting
an option from a drop-down list, or operating a special icon, key
or key sequence. The user may be allowed to select advanced
options, such as rules for concatenation or content conversion, or
whether cutting (e.g. source deletion) is performed as well as
copying on each subsequent selection operation.
Next, the user switches (85) to the first UI from which source
information is to be transferred, navigates to the first source
point, and highlights or selects (86) source content, which is then
automatically copied into the transfer buffer and pasted (88) into
the designated destination point(s) and area(s), without need to
switch back to the destination UI. Additionally, the source
reference information (54) for this transfer is recorded, such as
the time and date of the transfer, the user's identification, the
author of the information, a source indicator such as a file name
or web address, the destination resource, and the publication date
of the source information.
If (87) more source content is to be transferred, the user may
continue to navigate to additional points and to select (86)
additional content for automatic pasting into the destination
resource from within the current UI, or the user may switch (800,
801) to another UI and proceed with selecting (86) for automatic
pasting (88) into the destination resource.
When (87) all source information has been copied, the collected
source reference information (54) is used to generate (91) a
monitor report such as a text file, print out, or email message.
The user now returns to the initial (e.g. destination) UI to
continue editing or creating (21') the computer resource.
As previously mentioned and as will be recognized by those skilled
in the art, the use of text as the content copied from a source to
a destination in the foregoing examples is not meant to imply that
the present invention is limited to such content types. In fact, it
may be used to transfer content of any format which is compatible
with the transfer buffer implementation. For example, video clips,
graphics, hyperlinks, audio clips, and the like may be handled by
the invention provided that the transfer buffer is implemented in a
manner compatible with storing such information.
In conclusion, the present invention may be realized in a variety
formats, programming languages, methodologies, and operating
systems on a variety of computing platforms without departure from
the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope
of the present invention should be determined by the following
claims.
* * * * *
References